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Nanoparticles (NP) with optical properties embedded silica particles have been widely used in various fields because of their unique properties. The surfaces of optical NPs have been modified with various organic ligands to maintain their unique optical properties and colloidal stability. Among the surface modification methods, silica encapsulation of optical NPs is widely used to enhance their biocompatibility and stability. However, in the case of NPs with hydrophobic ligands on the surface, the ligands that determine the optical properties of the NPs may detach from the NPs, thereby changing the optical properties during silica encapsulation. Herein, we report a generally applicable silica encapsulation method using trimethoxy(2-phenylethyl)silane (TMPS) for non-hydrophilic optical NPs, such as quantum dots (QDs) and gold NPs. This silica encapsulation method was applied to fabricate multiple silica-encapsulated QD-embedded silica NPs (SiO2@QD@SiO2 NPs; QD2) and multiple silica-encapsulated gold NP-embedded silica NPs labeled with 2-naphthalene thiol (SiO2@Au2-NT@SiO2). The fabricated silica-encapsulated NPs exhibited optical properties without significant changes in the quantum yield or Raman signal intensity.
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Rapid, accurate, and convenient diagnosis is essential for effective disease management. Various detection methods, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, have been extensively used, with lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) recently emerging as a major diagnostic tool. Nanoparticles (NPs) with characteristic optical properties are used as probes for LFIA, and researchers have presented various types of optical NPs with modified optical properties. Herein, we review the literature on LFIA with optical NPs for the detection of specific targets in the context of diagnostics.
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Nanopartículas Metálicas , Nanopartículas , Imunoensaio/métodos , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Ouro , Limite de DetecçãoRESUMO
The nanoscale spatiotemporal resolution of single-particle tracking (SPT) renders it a powerful method for exploring single-molecule dynamics in living cells or tissues, despite the disadvantages of using traditional organic fluorescence probes, such as the weak fluorescent signal against the strong cellular autofluorescence background coupled with a fast-photobleaching rate. Quantum dots (QDs), which enable tracking targets in multiple colors, have been proposed as an alternative to traditional organic fluorescence dyes; however, they are not ideally suitable for applying SPT due to their hydrophobicity, cytotoxicity, and blinking problems. This study reports an improved SPT method using silica-coated QD-embedded silica nanoparticles (QD2), which represent brighter fluorescence and are less toxic than single QDs. After treatment of QD2 in 10 µg/mL, the label was retained for 96 h with 83.76% of labeling efficiency, without impaired cell function such as angiogenesis. The improved stability of QD2 facilitates the visualization of in situ endothelial vessel formation without real-time staining. Cells retain QD2 fluorescence signal for 15 days at 4 °C without significant photobleaching, indicating that QD2 has overcome the limitations of SPT enabling long-term intracellular tracking. These results proved that QD2 could be used for SPT as a substitute for traditional organic fluorophores or single quantum dots, with its photostability, biocompatibility, and superior brightness.
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Nanopartículas , Pontos Quânticos , Humanos , Dióxido de Silício , Células Endoteliais da Veia Umbilical Humana , Linhagem Celular , Corantes FluorescentesRESUMO
Quantum dots (QDs) have outstanding optical properties such as strong fluorescence, excellent photostability, broad absorption spectra, and narrow emission bands, which make them useful for bioimaging. However, cadmium (Cd)-based QDs, which have been widely studied, have potential toxicity problems. Cd-free QDs have also been studied, but their weak photoluminescence (PL) intensity makes their practical use in bioimaging challenging. In this study, Cd-free QD nanoprobes for bioimaging were fabricated by densely embedding multiple indium phosphide/zinc sulfide (InP/ZnS) QDs onto silica templates and coating them with a silica shell. The fabricated silica-coated InP/ZnS QD-embedded silica nanoparticles (SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs) exhibited hydrophilic properties because of the surface silica shell. The quantum yield (QY), maximum emission peak wavelength, and full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of the final fabricated SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs were 6.61%, 527.01 nm, and 44.62 nm, respectively. Moreover, the brightness of the particles could be easily controlled by adjusting the amount of InP/ZnS QDs in the SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs. When SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs were administered to tumor syngeneic mice, the fluorescence signal was prominently detected in the tumor because of the preferential distribution of the SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs, demonstrating their applicability in bioimaging with NPs. Thus, SiO2@InP QDs@SiO2 NPs have the potential to successfully replace Cd-based QDs as highly bright and biocompatible fluorescent nanoprobes.
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Nanopartículas , Neoplasias , Pontos Quânticos , Animais , Cádmio , Índio , Camundongos , Fosfinas , Dióxido de Silício , Sulfetos , Compostos de ZincoRESUMO
Bimetallic nanoparticles are important materials for synthesizing multifunctional nanozymes. A technique for preparing gold-platinum nanoparticles (NPs) on a silica core template (SiO2@Au@Pt) using seed-mediated growth is reported in this study. The SiO2@Au@Pt exhibits peroxidase-like nanozyme activity has several advantages over gold assembled silica core templates (SiO2@Au@Au), such as stability and catalytic performance. The maximum reaction velocity (Vmax) and the Michaelis-Menten constants (Km) were and 2.1 × 10-10 M-1âs-1 and 417 µM, respectively. Factors affecting the peroxidase activity, including the quantity of NPs, solution pH, reaction time, and concentration of tetramethyl benzidine, are also investigated in this study. The optimization of SiO2@Au@Pt NPs for H2O2 detection obtained in 0.5 mM TMB; using 5 µg SiO2@Au@Pt, at pH 4.0 for 15 min incubation. H2O2 can be detected in the dynamic liner range of 1.0 to 100 mM with the detection limit of 1.0 mM. This study presents a novel method for controlling the properties of bimetallic NPs assembled on a silica template and increases the understanding of the activity and potential applications of highly efficient multifunctional NP-based nanozymes.
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Ouro , Nanopartículas Metálicas , Corantes , Ouro/química , Peróxido de Hidrogênio/química , Imunoensaio/métodos , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , Peroxidase , Peroxidases , Platina/química , Dióxido de Silício/químicaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: To take advantages, such as multiplex capacity, non-photobleaching property, and high sensitivity, of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based in vivo imaging, development of highly enhanced SERS nanoprobes in near-infrared (NIR) region is needed. A well-controlled morphology and biocompatibility are essential features of NIR SERS nanoprobes. Gold (Au)-assembled nanostructures with controllable nanogaps with highly enhanced SERS signals within multiple hotspots could be a breakthrough. RESULTS: Au-assembled silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) (SiO2@Au@Au NPs) as NIR SERS nanoprobes are synthesized using the seed-mediated growth method. SiO2@Au@Au NPs using six different sizes of Au NPs (SiO2@Au@Au50-SiO2@Au@Au500) were prepared by controlling the concentration of Au precursor in the growth step. The nanogaps between Au NPs on the SiO2 surface could be controlled from 4.16 to 0.98 nm by adjusting the concentration of Au precursor (hence increasing Au NP sizes), which resulted in the formation of effective SERS hotspots. SiO2@Au@Au500 NPs with a 0.98-nm gap showed a high SERS enhancement factor of approximately 3.8 × 106 under 785-nm photoexcitation. SiO2@Au@Au500 nanoprobes showed detectable in vivo SERS signals at a concentration of 16 µg/mL in animal tissue specimen at a depth of 7 mm. SiO2@Au@Au500 NPs with 14 different Raman label compounds exhibited distinct SERS signals upon subcutaneous injection into nude mice. CONCLUSIONS: SiO2@Au@Au NPs showed high potential for in vivo applications as multiplex nanoprobes with high SERS sensitivity in the NIR region.
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Nanopartículas Metálicas , Nanopartículas , Animais , Ouro/química , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , Camundongos , Camundongos Nus , Dióxido de Silício/química , Análise Espectral Raman/métodosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Quantum dots (QDs) have been used as fluorophores in various imaging fields owing to their strong fluorescent intensity, high quantum yield (QY), and narrow emission bandwidth. However, the application of QDs to bio-imaging is limited because the QY of QDs decreases substantially during the surface modification step for bio-application. RESULTS: In this study, we fabricated alloy-typed core/shell CdSeZnS/ZnS quantum dots (alloy QDs) that showed higher quantum yield and stability during the surface modification for hydrophilization compared with conventional CdSe/CdS/ZnS multilayer quantum dots (MQDs). The structure of the alloy QDs was confirmed using time-of-flight medium-energy ion scattering spectroscopy. The alloy QDs exhibited strong fluorescence and a high QY of 98.0%. After hydrophilic surface modification, the alloy QDs exhibited a QY of 84.7%, which is 1.5 times higher than that of MQDs. The QY was 77.8% after the alloy QDs were conjugated with folic acid (FA). Alloy QDs and MQDs, after conjugation with FA, were successfully used for targeting human KB cells. The alloy QDs exhibited a stronger fluorescence signal than MQD; these signals were retained in the popliteal lymph node area for 24 h. CONCLUSION: The alloy QDs maintained a higher QY in hydrophilization for biological applications than MQDs. And also, alloy QDs showed the potential as nanoprobes for highly sensitive bioimaging analysis.
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Ligas , Compostos de Cádmio/química , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos/métodos , Pontos Quânticos , Sulfetos/química , Compostos de Zinco/química , Ligas/química , Ligas/farmacocinética , Animais , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Ácido Fólico , Células HeLa , Humanos , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão , Imagem Óptica , Pontos Quânticos/química , Pontos Quânticos/metabolismo , Compostos de Selênio/química , Propriedades de SuperfícieRESUMO
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plays important roles in cellular signaling and in industry. Thus, the accurate detection of H2O2 is critical for its application. Unfortunately, the direct detection of H2O2 by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is not possible because of its low Raman cross section. Therefore, the detection of H2O2 via the presence of an intermediary such as 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) has recently been developed. In this study, the peroxidase-mimicking activity of gold-silver core-shell-assembled silica nanostructures (SiO2@Au@Ag alloy NPs) in the presence of TMB was investigated using SERS for detecting H2O2. In the presence of H2O2, the SiO2@Au@Ag alloy catalyzed the conversion of TMB to oxidized TMB, which was absorbed onto the surface of the SiO2@Au@Ag alloy. The SERS characteristics of the alloy in the TMB-H2O2 mixture were investigated. The evaluation of the SERS band to determine the H2O2 level utilized the SERS intensity of oxidized TMB bands. Moreover, the optimal conditions for H2O2 detection using SiO2@Au@Ag alloy included incubating 20 µg/mL SiO2@Au@Ag alloy NPs with 0.8 mM TMB for 15 min and measuring the Raman signal at 400 µg/mL SiO2@Au@Ag alloy NPs.
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The precise synthesis of fine-sized nanoparticles is critical for realizing the advantages of nanoparticles for various applications. We developed a technique for preparing finely controllable sizes of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on a silica template, using the seed-mediated growth and interval dropping methods. These Au NPs, embedded on silica nanospheres (SiO2@Au NPs), possess peroxidase-like activity as nanozymes and have several advantages over other nanoparticle-based nanozymes. We confirmed their peroxidase activity; in addition, factors affecting the activity were investigated by varying the reaction conditions, such as concentrations of tetramethyl benzidine and H2O2, pH, particle amount, reaction time, and termination time. We found that SiO2@Au NPs are highly stable under long-term storage and reusable for five cycles. Our study, therefore, provides a novel method for controlling the properties of nanoparticles and for developing nanoparticle-based nanozymes.
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Benzidinas/química , Ouro/química , Peróxido de Hidrogênio/química , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , Nanosferas/química , Peroxidase/química , Dióxido de Silício/química , Concentração de Íons de HidrogênioRESUMO
Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanoparticles with outstanding optoelectronic properties. More specifically, QDs are highly bright and exhibit wide absorption spectra, narrow light bands, and excellent photovoltaic stability, which make them useful in bioscience and medicine, particularly for sensing, optical imaging, cell separation, and diagnosis. In general, QDs are stabilized using a hydrophobic ligand during synthesis, and thus their hydrophobic surfaces must undergo hydrophilic modification if the QDs are to be used in bioapplications. Silica-coating is one of the most effective methods for overcoming the disadvantages of QDs, owing to silica's physicochemical stability, nontoxicity, and excellent bioavailability. This review highlights recent progress in the design, preparation, and application of silica-coated QDs and presents an overview of the major challenges and prospects of their application.
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Pontos Quânticos/química , Dióxido de Silício/química , Animais , Materiais Biocompatíveis , Disponibilidade Biológica , Biomarcadores Tumorais , Cádmio/química , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Humanos , Técnicas In Vitro , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Micelas , Células Neoplásicas Circulantes , Imagem Óptica , Fenótipo , Albumina Sérica Humana/química , Propriedades de SuperfícieRESUMO
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the best-known biomarker for early diagnosis of prostate cancer. For prostate cancer in particular, the threshold level of PSA <4.0 ng/mL in clinical samples is an important indicator. Quick and easy visual detection of the PSA level greatly helps in early detection and treatment of prostate cancer and reducing mortality. In this study, we developed optimized silica-coated silver-assembled silica nanoparticles (SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs) that were applied to a visual lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) platform for PSA detection. During synthesis, the ratio of silica NPs to silver nitrate changed, and as the synthesized NPs exhibited distinct UV spectra and colors, most optimized SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs showed the potential for early prostate cancer diagnosis. The PSA detection limit of our LFIA platform was 1.1 ng/mL. By applying each SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NP to the visual LFIA platform, optimized SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs were selected in the test strip, and clinical samples from prostate cancer patients were successfully detected as the boundaries of non-specific binding were clearly seen and the level of PSA was <4 ng/mL, thus providing an avenue for quick prostate cancer diagnosis and early treatment.
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Nanopartículas Metálicas , Nanopartículas , Neoplasias da Próstata , Humanos , Imunoensaio , Masculino , Antígeno Prostático Específico , Dióxido de SilícioRESUMO
Antioxidants play a critical role in the treatment of degenerative diseases and delaying the aging of dermal tissue. Caffeic acid (CA) is a representative example of the antioxidants found in plants. However, CA is unsuitable for long-term storage because of its poor stability under ambient conditions. Caffeoyl-Pro-His-NH2 (CA-Pro-His-NH2, CA-PH) exhibits the highest antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity among the histidine-containing CA-conjugated dipeptides reported to date. The addition of short peptides to CA, such as Pro-His, is assumed to synergistically enhance its antioxidative activity. In this study, several caffeoyl-prolyl-histidyl-Xaa-NH2 derivatives were synthesized and their antioxidative activities evaluated. CA-Pro-His-Asn-NH2 showed enhanced antioxidative activity and higher structural stability than CA-PH, even after long-term storage. CA-Pro-His-Asn-NH2 was stable for 3 months, its stability being evaluated by observing the changes in its NMR spectra. Moreover, the solid-phase synthetic strategy used to prepare these CA-Pro-His-Xaa-NH2 derivatives was optimized for large-scale production. We envision that CA-Pro-His-Xaa-NH2 derivatives can be used as potent dermal therapeutic agents and useful cosmetic ingredients.
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Ácidos Cafeicos/síntese química , Ácidos Cafeicos/farmacologia , Animais , Antioxidantes/química , Antioxidantes/farmacologia , Compostos de Bifenilo/química , Ácidos Cafeicos/química , Morte Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Peroxidação de Lipídeos/efeitos dos fármacos , Camundongos , Células NIH 3T3 , Peróxidos/metabolismo , Picratos/química , Espectroscopia de Prótons por Ressonância Magnética , Técnicas de Síntese em Fase Sólida , Espectrometria de Massas por Ionização por ElectrosprayRESUMO
The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique, that uses magnetic plasmonic particles (MPPs), is an advanced SERS detection platform owing to the synergetic effects of the particles' magnetic and plasmonic properties. As well as being an ultrasensitive and reliable SERS material, MPPs perform various functions, such as aiding in separation, drug delivery, and acting as a therapeutic material. This literature discusses the structure and multifunctionality of MPPs, which has enabled the novel application of MPPs to various biological fields.
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The importance of glucose in many biological processes continues to garner increasing research interest in the design and development of efficient biotechnology for the sensitive and selective monitoring of glucose. Here we report on a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of 4-mercaptophenyl boronic acid (4-MPBA)-immobilized gold-silver core-shell assembled silica nanostructure (SiO2@Au@Ag@4-MPBA) for quantitative, selective detection of glucose in physiologically relevant concentration. This work confirmed that 4-MPBA converted to 4-mercaptophenol (4-MPhOH) in the presence of H2O2. In addition, a calibration curve for H2O2 detection of 0.3 µg/mL was successfully detected in the range of 1.0 to 1000 µg/mL. Moreover, the SiO2@Au@Ag@4-MPBA for glucose detection was developed in the presence of glucose oxidase (GOx) at the optimized condition of 100 µg/mL GOx with 1-h incubation time using 20 µg/mL SiO2@Au@Ag@4-MPBA and measuring Raman signal at 67 µg/mL SiO2@Au@Ag. At the optimized condition, the calibration curve in the range of 0.5 to 8.0 mM was successfully developed with an LOD of 0.15 mM. Based on those strategies, the SERS detection of glucose can be achieved in the physiologically relevant concentration range and opened a great promise to develop a SERS-based biosensor for a variety of biomedicine applications.
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In this study, dense gold-assembled SiO2 nanostructure (SiO2@Au) was successfully developed using the Au seed-mediated growth. First, SiO2 (150 nm) was prepared, modified by amino groups, and incubated by gold nanoparticles (ca. 3 nm Au metal nanoparticles (NPs)) to immobilize Au NPs to SiO2 surface. Then, Au NPs were grown on the prepared SiO2@Au seed by reducing chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) by ascorbic acid (AA) in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The presence of bigger (ca. 20 nm) Au NPs on the SiO2 surface was confirmed by transmittance electronic microscopy (TEM) images, color changes to dark blue, and UV-vis spectra broadening in the range of 450 to 750 nm. The SiO2@Au nanostructure showed several advantages compared to the hydrofluoric acid (HF)-treated SiO2@Au, such as easy separation, surface modification stability by 11-mercaptopundecanoic acid (R-COOH), 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (R-OH), and 1-undecanethiol (R-CH3), and a better peroxidase-like catalysis activity for 5,5'-Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) reaction. The catalytic activity of SiO2@Au was two times better than that of HF-treated SiO2@Au. When SiO2@Au nanostructure was used as a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, the signal of 4-aminophenol (4-ATP) on the surface of SiO2@Au was also stronger than that of HF-treated SiO2@Au. This study provides a potential method for nanoparticle preparation which can be replaced for Au NPs in further research and development.
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Ouro/química , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , Nanoestruturas/química , Dióxido de Silício/química , Aminofenóis/química , Benzidinas/química , Técnicas Biossensoriais/métodos , Catálise , Ácido Fluorídrico/química , Peróxido de Hidrogênio/química , Limite de Detecção , Povidona/química , Prata/química , Compostos de Sulfidrila/químicaRESUMO
Exosomes are attracting attention as new biomarkers for monitoring the diagnosis and prognosis of certain diseases. Colorimetric-based lateral-flow assays have been previously used to detect exosomes, but these have the disadvantage of a high limit of detection. Here, we introduce a new technique to improve exosome detection. In our approach, highly bright multi-quantum dots embedded in silica-encapsulated nanoparticles (M-QD-SNs), which have uniform size and are brighter than single quantum dots, were applied to the lateral flow immunoassay method to sensitively detect exosomes. Anti-CD63 antibodies were introduced on the surface of the M-QD-SNs, and a lateral flow immunoassay with the M-QD-SNs was conducted to detect human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) exosomes. Exosome samples included a wide range of concentrations from 100 to 1000 exosomes/µL, and the detection limit of our newly designed system was 117.94 exosome/µL, which was 11 times lower than the previously reported limits. Additionally, exosomes were selectively detected relative to the negative controls, liposomes, and newborn calf serum, confirming that this method prevented non-specific binding. Thus, our study demonstrates that highly sensitive and quantitative exosome detection can be conducted quickly and accurately by using lateral immunochromatographic analysis with M-QD-SNs.
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BACKGROUND: Blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are widely used as diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer. Lateral-flow immunoassay (LFIA)-based PSA detection can overcome the limitations associated with other methods. LFIAbased PSA detection in clinical samples enables prognosis and early diagnosis owing to the use of high-performance signal reporters. RESULTS: Here, a semiquantitative LFIA platform for PSA detection in blood was developed using Au-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) assembled on silica NPs (SiO2@Au-Ag NPs) that served as signal reporters. Synthesized SiO2@Au-Ag NPs exhibited a high absorbance at a wide wavelength range (400-800 nm), with a high scattering on nitrocellulose membrane test strips. In LFIA, the color intensity of the test line on the test strip differed depending on the PSA concentration (0.30-10.00 ng/mL), and bands for the test line on the test strip could be used as a standard. When clinical samples were assessed using this LFIA, a visual test line with particular color intensity observed on the test strip enabled the early diagnosis and prognosis of patients with prostate cancer based on PSA detection. In addition, the relative standard deviation of reproducibility was 1.41%, indicating high reproducibility, and the signal reporter showed good stability for 10 days. CONCLUSION: These characteristics of the signal reporter demonstrated the reliability of the LFIA platform for PSA detection, suggesting potential applications in clinical sample analysis.
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Ouro/química , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , Antígeno Prostático Específico/sangue , Antígeno Prostático Específico/isolamento & purificação , Neoplasias da Próstata/diagnóstico , Dióxido de Silício/química , Prata/química , Técnicas Biossensoriais/métodos , Colorimetria , Humanos , Imunoensaio/métodos , Limite de Detecção , Masculino , Reprodutibilidade dos TestesRESUMO
Nano is a fine metric unit which means "one billionth." Nanotechnology is attracting attention as a technological basis to lead the fourth industry. By utilizing synergistic properties obtained from controlling the structure or arrangement of materials at the nanoscale, nanotechnology has evolved rapidly over the past half century and is active in a variety of fields such as materials, pharmaceuticals, and biology. This chapter briefly describes the concept and features of nanotechnology, as well as the preparation, analysis, characterization, and application of nanomaterials. Also, the prospects for nanotechnology along with the nanotoxicity are described.
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Nanoestruturas , NanotecnologiaRESUMO
It is almost impossible to fabricate size-controlled nanomaterials without full understanding about nanoscience, because nanomaterials sometimes suddenly grow up and precipitated, meanwhile other nanomaterials are disappeared during fabrication process. With this reason, it is necessary to understand the principle theories about nanoscience for fabrication of "well-defined" nanoparticles. This chapter explains basic theories about nanomaterials. And based on the theory, methods for controlling the size of nanoparticles and preventing the aggregation after fabrication are described.
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Nanopartículas , NanoestruturasRESUMO
Silica consists of one silicon atom and two oxygen atoms (SiO2) and is commonly used in various aspects of daily life. For example, it has been used as glass, insulator, and so on. Nowadays, silica is used as core reagents for fabricating and encapsulating nanoparticles (NPs). In this chapter, the usage of silica in nanotechnology is described. Synthesis and surface modification of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs), including via the Stöber method, reverse microemulsion method, and modified sol-gel method, are illustrated. Then, various NPs with silica encapsulation are explained. At last, the biological applications of those mentioned NPs are described.